Frozen oysters on one of the most creative spaghetti aglio e olio around: Alberto Gipponi's variation, rich in flavor and flair.

Cover photo by Chiara Cadeddu

Chef's photo by Lido Vannucchi

INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE

600 g spaghettoni
200 g of potatoes
150 g extra virgin olive oil
100 g butter
40 g of fennel
35 g shallots
15 g garlic
3 oysters
Olive oil
Thyme
Chili pepper
Breadcrumbs

Procedure

Wash, dry and cut the potatoes into rounds; do the same with the shallots. Peel the garlic cloves, split them lengthwise, and remove the souls. In a pot suitable for baking, place the oil, butter, shallots and garlic. Cook everything in the oven at 85°C for 8 to 10 hours, then blend, adding fresh thyme and chili to taste.

Blanch the fennel in boiling salted water, then cool it in a blast chiller or in water and ice, blend it with the cooking water and strain the resulting sauce through a fine-mesh strainer.
Place oil and garlic in a nonstick pan; when the oil becomes hot, add the breadcrumbs, browning them well. Then remove it from the heat and lay it on paper towels.

Open the oysters, dry them well and place them in the freezer. Once frozen, cut them to a thickness of 2 millimeters.

Cook the spaghettoni in plenty of salted water. In a skillet, heat the potato cream by diluting it with a little cooking water. Drain the pasta al dente and stir it into the cream.
On the base of each deep dish, arrange a spoonful of fennel sauce and lay a portion of spaghettoni rolled into a nest. Top with two frozen oyster slices and breadcrumbs and garnish with fresh fennel to taste.